Community Emergency Plan
insert town/parish cluster
Contents
Introduction
Town & Parish Councils will be notified of an emergency
Communicating with Town & Parish Councils during an emergency
Town & Parish Cluster
Community Emergency team
Community Emergency Team Contact Details
Community Incident Room
Identified Incident Room
Emergency Box
Community Emergency Shelters
Emergency Services/Responders’ Shelter(s)
Suitable locations for Emergency Information Points
Warning and Informing
Before an Emergency (general advice)
During an Emergency (general advice)
Community Emergency Team Meeting Agenda
Plan Publication and Information
Plan Maintenance
Plan exercise and review
Data Protection
* to update this table of contents – right click with your mouse and select update field
Introduction
Town & Parish Councils will be notified of an emergency
Town and Parish Councilsthat will be affected by a declared emergency will always be notified. The type of notificationwill depend on the type of emergency. Elected Members will also be notified in the same way.There is often an information vacuum at the start of an emergency, with responding organisations trying to ascertain exactly what has happened and what the consequences are. The notification however, will take place as soon as possible, after arrangements have been put into place to implement the Council’s response to the emergency.
Communicating with Town & Parish Councils during an emergency
The Town and Parish Council emergency hotline will usually be the primary point of contact for you during an emergency. Information about the emergency response will be cascaded by the Emergency Control Room, and the Contact Centre will be able to direct any queries or issues towards the appropriate Council team/s. It should be noted that responses to enquiries, during the initial stages of an emergency, could take some time due to availability and/or the scale of the emergency.The Council’s website will also be fully updated with information during an emergency.
Town & Parish Cluster
To maximise use of resources within smaller communities, Parishes may form a cluster group to respond to emergency situations.Usually there will be a lead Parish that will co-ordinate the activities undertaken. Your cluster however, may decide that a committee with a member from each community will be brought together to make decisions.
Parish / Name of clerk / Contact Information
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Community Emergency team
In the event of the plan being triggered the following members of the Parish/Town Council have agreed to form part of the Emergency Team who will help to reduce the effects on the community by:- assessing the situation.
- co-ordinate the activities of your Council.
- mobilising local resources to support the community.
- maintaining links with the emergency services, the Local Authority and other responding organisations.
Other people may also be involved a Community Emergency response such as, Flood Wardens and Emergency Community Coordinators.
Over the next few pages gather the details so they can be used in an emergency and key members can be contacted rapidly.
These emergency contact pages could also be used to give out to vulnerable members of the community.
Community Emergency Team Contact Details
These will be the names and contact details of the members of the Town & Parish Council that will form the Emergency TeamName / Contact Information / Home address / E-mail address / Availability
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Community Incident Room
An incident room is simply a location where the Emergency Team can meet and manage your Community’s response to the emergency. This may be someone’s home, village hall or another similar location. Ideally, the venue should have access to a phone, toilets and to kitchen facilities. You should identify some venues in advance and list them in this box, along with the contact details for accessing them during an emergency. If the Parish covers more than one community consider nominating buildings in each village.If an emergency team is brought together, it has been agreed that they will meet in one of the following location(s):
Identified Incident Room
Location / Keyholder(s) / Contact Information / AvailabilityEmergency Box
An emergency box has been kept at <enter location of emergency box>.It contains <listthe contents of the emergency box
An emergency box contains the information and the equipment that you might need during an emergency. The idea is to gather it together in advance so that you can quickly access it when you need it. Depending on the size of your community you might want to think about having more than one box.
Useful things for your box might include:
- a copy of this plan.
- a street map of the area.
- Paper and pens.
- the register of electors.
- wind up/battery operated radio.
- wind up/battery operated torch.
- wind up/ mobile phone charger.
Community Emergency Shelters
An emergency shelter is simply a location where people can go when there is an emergency; whether it is to keep them warm and dry or somewhere to discuss actions that need to be taken. This may be the village hall, church, pub or another similar location. Ideally, the venue should have access to a phone and to kitchen facilities. You should identify some venues in advance and list them in this box, along with the contact details for accessing them during an emergency.Details of your emergency shelter(s) may be shared with the Emergency Services in case they need to identify a safe location to evacuate residents to.
VENUE 1
Name:
Address:
Telephone No:
Key Holder’s Name:
Key Holders Address:
Key Holder’s Telephone:
Facilities
Capacity:
Cooking Facilities: Y/N
Car Parking Arrangements:
Internet Access: Y/N
VENUE 2
Name:
Address:
Telephone No:
Key Holder’s Name:
Key Holders Address:
Key Holder’s Telephone:
Facilities
Capacity:
Cooking Facilities: Y/N
Car Parking Arrangements:
Internet Access: Y/N
VENUE 3
Name:
Address:
Telephone No:
Key Holder’s Name:
Key Holders Address:
Key Holder’s Telephone:
Facilities
Capacity:
Cooking Facilities: Y/N
Car Parking Arrangements:
Internet Access: Y/N
Emergency Services/Responders’ Shelter(s)
Could any of the shelters above be made available to the emergency services to work from during the response to an emergency? Please list all appropriate venues below.Location
Venue 1.
Venue 2.
Venue 3.
Suitable locations for Emergency Information Points
Locations can be pre-identified to pass information to the community during an emergency; these can be places such as community centres, the post office or the Parish notice board.If the Parish/Town Council have a website or access to social networking sites these can be very useful in keeping everyone informed of the latest situation.
Location 1:
Responsible for updating
Contact information for access
Location 2:
Responsible for updating
Contact information for access
Location 3:
Responsible for updating
Contact information for access
Other useful Contact Details -
Organisation / Telephone Number / Website- Anglian Water
- Cambridgeshire County Council
- Electricity Emergency Service and Supply Failures
- Emergency Response Only – Ambulance, Fire and Police
- Environment Agency Floodline
- Environment Agency Incident Hotline
- Gas Emergency Service and Gas Escapes
- Maritime and Coastguard Agency Non Emergency
- MET Office
- NHS 111 (non emergency)
- East Cambridgeshire D.C.
- Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue (non emergency)
- Police Non Emergency
- 03457 145145
- 0345 0455200
- 0800 3163105
- 999
- 08459 881188
- 0800 80 70 60
- 0800 111 999
- 01482 300300
- 0370 900 0100
- 111
- 01353 665555
- 01480 444 500
- 101
- www2.nationalgrid.com
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire - Tune in to 95.7FM or 96FM-
Town/Parish Councillors not on the Emergency Management Team
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Warning and Informing
This section contains public information for various incident types that your Community Emergency Team may be able to help cascade to members of the community. Emergency responders may also issue advice through their website, emails to you and through radio announcements.- Heavy Winds
Close and securely fasten doors and windows, including garages.
Park vehicles in a garage or in a place clear of buildings, trees and fences.
Stay indoors if possible.
If you need to go outside, do not walk or shelter close to buildings or trees.
Don’t carry out repairs whilst the storm is in progress.
Do not drive unless your journey is essential and avoid exposed routes.
Do not touch electric/telephone cables which may have to be blown down.
- Heat Wave
If you must go out, stay in the shade, wear a hat and loose fitting clothing.
Drink plenty of fluids.
Don’t leave animals unattended in cars in warm weather.
Seek medical help if you suffer from heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Remain somewhere cool, sponge yourself with cold water and drink plenty of fluids.
- Snow and Ice
Inform a friend or family member of your intended travel arrangements and expected arrival time.
Wear a hat.
Watch out for signs of hypothermia - uncontrollable shivering, slow or slurred speech, drowsiness and memory lapse.
Don’t drive unless you absolutely need to.
- Flooding
Move your car to higher ground.
Empty furniture drawers and cupboards. Place the contents and any furniture you can upstairs.
Fasten plastic bags round the legs of wooden furniture to help minimise absorption of water.
Turn off mains gas and electricity.
Put plugs in sinks and weight them down to prevent backflow from the drains. Weigh down the loo seat too.
Bring caged outdoor pets inside, move all pets with food, water, bedding and litter trays upstairs.
Make sure any valuable or sentimental items and important documents are safe.
REMEMBER - We do not encourage communities to enter floodwater. Moving floodwater can be extremely powerful and easily knock people off their feet. There could also be unseen obstructions that could be hard or sharp, potentially causing serious injury, and there are risks of entanglement. Flooding can dislodge manhole covers that people could fall into and become trapped. Remember, floodwater will probably also contain raw sewage. . If you need to walk through floodwater consider using a pole (brush handle) to test the ground in front of you
Always wash your hands/arms/legs with hot water and soap if you do come into contact with floodwater.
DO NOT allow children to play in floodwater.
Put any flood protection in place.
Encourage members of the community to check on their neighbours, especially if they are elderly or live on their own.
If people are advised to evacuate their homes
- If people are advised to evacuate their homes, or are advised to evacuate, try and remind people of the steps they should take:
Turn off electricity, gas and water supplies and unplug appliances.
Take their mobile phone and charger.
Take some spare clothes.
Take prescribed medication with them.
Take cash and credit cards.
Lock all doors and windows.
- If they leave by car, take bottled water, a duvet or blankets and tune into the local radio for emergency advice and instructions.
Before an Emergency (general advice)
Help the Community PrepareYou can help your community be prepared for an emergency by encouraging them to follow the advice contained in that document. In particular you can:
- Encourage all members of your community to make sure they are adequately insured and review their insurance
- Make sure that people are signed up to the Environment Agency Flood Warning Service if your community is in a flood risk area. Point them in the direction of the National Flood Forum for more information on flood defence products and to local surveyors and architects for advice on their effectiveness.
- Encourage people to prepare a Go Bag including, or prepare one for them:
- Key documents (such as passport, driving licence, your personal emergency contact list and insurance details).
- First aid kit including any medication.
- Wet wipes and/or antibacterial hand gel.
- Battery operated radio with spare batteries or wind up radio.
- Notebook and pencil/pen.
- Mobile phone/charger.
- Glasses/contact lenses.
- Toiletries (including nappies/sanitary supplies).
- Any special items for babies, children, elderly and disabled people.
- Spare set of keys (home/car/office).
- Bottled water/energy bars.
- Coins/cash (small denominations) and credit/debit cards.
- Change of clothes and blankets and sensible footwear (if necessary, waterproofs).
- A torch and batteries or a wind up torch.
- Encourage people to complete a household emergency plan (contained in How to Prepare for Emergencies Booklet).
- Encourage people to make a “Community Friend” – this is someone, or some people, that can be called during an emergency to provide practical support – such as helping move furniture, look after pets, share house keys to look after each other’s properties and maybe know which valuable and sentimental items should be moved upstairs, check on you if you are poorly and go to the shops and chemists on your behalf.
- Make sure people know how to respond. In an emergency, people should go inside go in, stay in and tune in to their local radio station for further instructions
- Check that your community are ready for an emergency – ask them the following questions:
- Do you have a household emergency plan?
- Have you discussed your plan with family and friends?
- Do you know the emergency plan for your children’s school/nursery/college?
- Do you know the emergency plan for your place of work?
- Have you completed a personal emergency contact list?
- Have you prepared a check list for your ‘go bag’, or packed it ready to go?
- Do you have ICE contact(s) in your phone, wallet or purse?
- Do you have a contact person – someone unlikely to be affected by the same emergency - who can keep family and friends informed?
- Do you have a wind up or battery-operated portable FM/AM radio?
- Do you have alternative, agreed meeting points?
- Do you have working smoke alarms in your home?
- Do you have adequate contents and buildings insurance?
- Do you have copies of your most important documents stored somewhere other than at home?
- Do you have a written list of your valuables, plus photographs or DVD/video?
- Have you undertaken a basic first aid course?
- Have you checked if your property is in a flood risk area?
- Have you thought about arrangements for pets if you need to leave your home?
- Have you identified possible exit routes from every room in your home?
During an Emergency (general advice)
- IN AN EMERGENCY DIAL 999 IF NECESSARY
- Follow advice from the Emergency Services and responding organisations, make sure that your own family is safe, and that your house is secure
- Tune into the local radio station and listen for public advice messages
- Pass on any public advice messages to your community
- Make contact with your fellow coordinators
- Try to assess the impact of the emergency on your community and assess whether there is any support that you, or other community volunteers can provide, such as:
- Helping people move valuable and sentimental items upstairs
- Helping deploy any flood protection products they might have
- Providing some immediate shelter if people have had to leave their homes
- Looking after pets
- Providing lifts to family and friends
- Doing basic household tasks such as shopping
- Consider asking for additional members of the community (volunteers) to help with the response
- If there is a representative from the Emergency Services, Council or other responder working in your community, please go and introduce yourself and tell them you have activated your community emergency plan.
- Co-ordinate offers of support where you can
- Pay particular attention to people that might be made vulnerable during an emergency
- Liaise with the Town / Parish Council if they have a Community Emergency Plan
- If people are advised to evacuate their homes, or are advised to evacuate, try and remind people of the steps they should take:
- Grab ‘Go bag’ and check contents.
- Turn off electricity, gas and water supplies and unplug appliances
- Take their mobile phone and charger.
- Take some spare clothes.
- Take prescribed medication with them.
- Take cash and credit cards.
- Lock all doors and windows.
Community Emergency Team Meeting Agenda
First meeting agenda
Date:Time:
Location:
Attendees:
1. What is the current situation?
Location of the emergency. Is it near:
A school?
A vulnerable area?
A main access route?
Type of emergency:
Is there a threat to life?
Has electricity, gas or water been affected?
Are there any vulnerable people involved?
Elderly
Families with children
What resources do we need?
Food?
Off-road vehicles?
Blankets?
Shelter?
2. Establishing contact with the emergency services
3. How can we support the emergency services?
4. What actions can safely be taken?
5. Who is going to take the lead for the agreed actions?
6. Any other issues?
Plan Publication and Information
Plan Publication
Electronic copies of this plan have been e-mailed to:- <if you send your plan to the Council we will write it into our emergency management arrangements and share it with the emergency services so they can do likewise. If you would rather not share your plan it is important that you at least send the contact details for your emergency team
- List the other people that have received an electronic copy of the plan
- Insert the location of the master file
- Insert locations where back-up electronic versions have been saved
- List the name and address of people that have hard copies of the emergency plan
Plan Maintenance